NC lawmakers push for rioters to face felony charges. So what is considered a riot?

[TexasTowelie]

RALEIGH -- Participating in a riot in any form in North Carolina could soon leave you susceptible to felony charges.

On Monday, Sen. Danny Britt, a Lumberton Republican, filed Senate Bill 300, labeled the Criminal Justice Reform bill. The 12-page bill includes a provision that would increase the punishment for anyone participating in a riot from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class H felony.

“We want folks to know that it is our opinion that these crimes are serious,” Britt told The News & Observer on Tuesday. “We hope that this will convey to them the need to actually prosecute crimes at a serious level.”

But North Carolina laws on rioting are vague. Britt’s bill leaves open to interpretation how someone could face felony charges for rioting and opens the door to further racial discrimination, said Ann Webb, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

Read more: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article249019090.html

[TheRealNorth]

1. Let me translate deplorable speak....

Black person marching together to vote early = riot
Proud boy storming the U.S. Capitol = patriot doing patriotic things.

[Cinnamonspice]

2. I imagine.....

If the protesters are just standing there saying black people should have rights, it's rioting.

If it's a white person with a gun demanding less COVID restrictions, it's free speech. Well, according to social media anyway.

[Claire Oh Nette]

3. Color me dubious

Last summer's BLM marches in support of social justice to protest of rogue police acting as judge, jury, and executioner of Black citizens were "riots."

Angry supporters of the losing candidate for President stormed the Capitol with stun guns and hockey sticks, used American flags as spears, erected a gallows, shouted Hang Mike Pence, broke windows to gain entry, murdered Officer Sicknick, shat in the hallowed halls of Congress, assaulted CPD officers with bear spray, and left four others dead. But that was a peaceful protest.

Color me dubious.

Next, any time three people of color gather, will they call that a riot, too?